STOKE MANAGER ‘STAGGERED’ BY IRELAND’S USE OF WINGER MCCLEAN
THE Republic of Ireland football team have surprised and exasperated Stoke City with their handling of James Mcclean.
Mcclean has been out since February 20 with a degenerative foot problem that has plagued him since last summer. The injury required an injection and rest for four to six weeks and Michael O’neill had two conversations with Ireland boss Stephen Kenny to spell out the situation.
He missed seven games for Stoke but played in a World Cup qualifier after just three weeks. He subsequently played in two more matches, including starting in a friendly draw with Qatar on Tuesday night.
The 31-year-old midfielder has returned to Stoke to face a frustrated O’neill – and he still needs to be assessed to see if he is fit to play for his club against Bristol City on Good Friday.
“I would hope so (that he is fit),” said O’neill.
“We will assess him and see if he has any pain in his foot. This is not an injury like a torn hamstring or anything, this is a condition that the player has complained about since last July. It’s not a condition that has happened as a result of a specific incident, it has happened over a period of time.
“If the treatment has worked and James has no pain then our treatment has been extremely successful and he is back ahead of schedule than we had been led to believe by a specialist in that area. That’s all I can say.
“He’s been in the building today, he’s being assessed and I’ll have a conversation with the medical team about it.”
He added: “I can’t stop him going. I tried to stop him going this time! That’s not an option. I know that, I know it well.
“If the player wants to go, they can turn up for international duty with a broken leg if he wants, he has the right to be assessed by the medical team. We didn’t feel that was in the best interests of the player.
“I spoke to Stephen on Monday before they left. James hadn’t trained with us in more than three weeks. He hadn’t trained a single day with the team. For three days later to be able to come on and play in a World Cup qualifying fixture, I find that staggering to be honest.
“Ultimately that’s a decision for the FAI and the Republic of Ireland.”
Mcclean scored against Qatar – and posted on social media about his pride of winning 80 caps, referencing a conversation with ‘a man I have tremendous respect for’ who tried to persuade him to play for Northern Ireland with ‘the words, “Why go and play for the Republic and earn one or two caps when you can get 80 for Northern Ireland?”’
O’neill and his predecessor Nigel Worthington had both tried to convince Mcclean, back when he was with Derry City then Sunderland, to commit to the North, who he had represented up to under-21s level.
O’neill said: “It was nice to see James get his 80th cap but I didn’t expect him to play as much when he was away. Our understanding of James meeting up with
Ireland was that he was being brought in as a security blanket.”
He added: “I didn’t think James was fit enough to go away on international duty. He has a degenerative complaint in his foot that needed rest. It was too painful for him to play and he missed seven games with us. He subsequently received an injection for that and – I’m repeating myself – that he would be out for four to six weeks.
“He joined up with Ireland after three weeks.
“We got assurances for Ireland that he would only be used as a security blanket. That was in two conversations I had with Stephen Kenny. Obviously we had a lot of dialogue between the two medical teams.
“We notified them very early that we felt James wasn’t fit enough to join up with the Republic of Ireland.
“I don’t question the player’s desire to play for his country - and very commendable that is but I was surprised and disappointed to see him take part in all three games, particularly the final game where it is a friendly game and they had other options. I did see other players return to their clubs.
“We are disappointed with how the player has been handled during the international break.”